Wheel (Bearing) Noise at 75 to 85km...

[PiCASSO]

Hey,

My Mazda is at Avante after my complaint to Mazda of Canada regarding my fuel economy. So they are driving it up to 100 km to determine if my claims are correct. My experience with most dealerships is that I will be told that everything turns out \"normal\". If that\'s the case, I will have to take it up a notch and talk to someone above Opero (I think I spelled his name correctly) at Mazda of Canada. My gut feeling is that either A) my car is a lemon or B) the cars that were evaluated for Government of Canada\'s EPA ratings were ringers... running on \"lean\" mode to inflate good L/100km figures.

Anyways, back to the topic:

For the past few months... maybe as early as May of this year (4-5 months), I\'ve been hearing noise as I drive each day to and from work. At first I thought it was a pavement issue that perhaps if I drove on other surfaces, the noise would go away. But it didn\'t... and it continues being there.

As I approach 75km/h (slightly above 45 mph) the noise starts coming out of the road... reminding me of driving a 4x4 Jeep with their large foot print tires. It becomes very noticeable by 80 km/h and continues through till 85 and probably 90. But by 90, there is contributing wind noise and tire noise so it\'s a symphony of noises. Keep in mind, that either with or without acceleration, the noise is evident.

But since I travel to work at 80 km/h, the noise is very evident, which reminded me of the rear right wheel issue I had with my 2000 Honda Prelude. It was a bearing issue that was quickly replaced by warranty. For reference, the noise does go away when I swerve to either side, which in effect loading and unloading each side of the wheels.

My ’05 Mazda 3 Sport GT (5-speed) has now a few ticks over 20,000 (I’m behind 4,000 km in my 36-month lease), I’d like you all pay attention to the 70 through 90 km/h and determine if you hear noise. Maybe this is an inherent issue with ALL Mazda 3s… I don’t know. But after noticing the noise, it’s hard to ignore it.

Cheers,


PiCASSO

[PiCASSO]

Well, regarding the noise coming from the right side. Avante Mazda had my car for 3-days, and they managed to fix the problem by removing and replacing the HUB and BEARING (P/N BP4K-33-15XB).

I\'m happy to say that driving the car through the same speed range proved to solve the problem. Ted from Avante mentioned that the noise was very faint, yet I could pick it up every single time I passed through those 75 to 85km range. Perhaps with my good ear, I would be a good NVH engineer? Not sure if there are many positions in the GTA that would require my hearing talents. :)

[Mayhem]

I have the same problem and have taken it to St. Catharines Mazda where I was told they couldn\'t find a noise and that everything was normal. I then took it to Guelph City Mazda who heard the noise but said it was a problem with my tires and that I should take it up with Goodyear. Not sure what to do. Any suggestions?

[PiCASSO]

Originally posted by Mayhem


I have the same problem and have taken it to St. Catharines Mazda where I was told they couldn\'t find a noise and that everything was normal. I then took it to Guelph City Mazda who heard the noise but said it was a problem with my tires and that I should take it up with Goodyear. Not sure what to do. Any suggestions?

Well, I\'ve brought my car in again to Avante before the Christmas holidays. I put on a new set of winter tires (Viking Snow Tech), so there was some noise coming from the vehicle, but it felt excessive. Avante put my car up and listened to each wheel with the stethescope. And indeed, it was another set of wheel bearings that were replaced (both front left and front right).

I had NO noise with my Goodyear RS-A tires, and only when the bearings started to make that noise. The bearings are not properly designed and somehow become faulty. This is the second time within 25,000 km that they begun failing.

Bring the car to Avante... and I\'m sure that they\'ll take care of you like the took care of me.

[ds2chan]

is there any way you can describe the noise?? a clanking sound?? just anything so I would have an idea of what to listen out for.. thanks.. :)

[FLIPDADY]

Originally posted by ds2chan


is there any way you can describe the noise?? a clanking sound?? just anything so I would have an idea of what to listen out for.. thanks.. :)
Usually you would here a very noticable humming from the front off the car.

[Mayhem]

Originally posted by FLIPSPEED



Originally posted by ds2chan


is there any way you can describe the noise?? a clanking sound?? just anything so I would have an idea of what to listen out for.. thanks.. :)
Usually you would here a very noticable humming from the front off the car.

That\'s exactly it....a very noticeable humming. I\'ve got my winters on right now so it\'s a little fainter but I can still tell it\'s there.

By stethoscope do you mean the tool that looks like a doctors stethocscope, just with a long thin pin on the end? I took it to a local shop near my house first and they said they thought it was the bearings. After that was when I took it to St. Catherines Mazda who didn\'t hear anything and said everything was tight and there was no problem.

I live in St. Catharines, but I\'m willing to take a drive to avante to get it fixed. Can I make an appointment? Also, how long would it take to do, cause I\'d have to stay in the waiting room.

[Mayhem]

k.....I need to get this fixed. It\'s bugging the hell out of me and now that I know someone else had the problem and got it fixed, it\'s REALLY bugging me.

It\'s frustrating that I can\'t get it fixed out here (Dumb dealerships......At Guelph City Mazda they didn\'t even know what a stethoscope was). The only place that figure out the problem is a local shop and they can\'t perform warranty work (at least not to my knowledge).

Any suggestions on how I should go about getting this fixed? Joe, do you know if a dealership can call another dealership for a consult or something?

[bman]

My car is also from ST.Catherines Mazda. Service is hit and miss there. I had the same noise issues, took it into Oakville Mazda (on the way home from work) and an hour later they fixed the problem. It was the rear wheel bearings which they replaced under warranty. I sometimes do my servicing at Oakville Mazda because it is convienent after work and have always had good service there. Check them out if Avante is to far.

[Mayhem]

I\'ll give that a shot..... maybe they\'ll be able to solve the problem. It would be rather far to drive all the way to TO just for this.

[Mayhem]

K....I took my car into Oakville Mazda. They told me they couldn\'t find any problems and that they couldn\'t hear any noise. This floored me.....I hear the noise every single day. They told me it wasn\'t a wheel bearing because you\'d hear a high-pitched whine that would increase as you accelerated and lessen as you decelerated.

They did tell me that when they had the car on the lift, my front tires and wheels were bouncing up and down, so they told me to take my car somewhere and have them check the tires (what, Oakville Mazda can\'t check tires?).

I asked the guy if it could be the hub since the wheels are going up and down and they are connected to the hub. I find it hard to believe that the wheels would go up and down and the hub would stay stationary (unless my wheels were oval, which I highly doubt). Either way, they are the first people to notice this. My local auto shop where I used to take my car did not notice this \"problem\" and they are the ones who used the stethoscope to diagnose the wheel bearing problem. Anyway, the guy said it could be the hub, but he thought it was the wheels and I should just go get them checked out first. I\'ll do that ASAP.

This is maddening though......this is the 3rd friggin dealership. Two don\'t hear the problem, One hears the problem, a local autoshop hears the problem and says it\'s the bearings. I\'m ready to pull my hair out....All I want is my car fixed without having to drive all over Ontario to find a Mazda dealership who will at least listen to the wheels turning with a stethoscope....so far none in my area know what one is (the stethoscope) or are just unwilling to use it.

At Oakville Mazda I asked to take the mechanic with me for a test drive to point out the noise. I was informed this was no possible with the mechanic, only with the manager and he wasn\'t in. AHHHHH.....man I\'m stressed out and pissed off, it\'s been almost a year with this problem. Anyways, I will get my wheels checked out and then go back when the manager is there and take them for a drive.

I guess I\'m just one of those people who supposedly has 8 faulty tires that produce the exact same noise....ugh.

Any ideas people?

[sueb]

I too have experienced the same problem on my 2004 Mazda 3. Avante Mazda has replaced my bearings twice - now they say that its my tire and there\'s nothing I can do about the noice except replace the tire. Its so frustrating because I don\'t believe it is a tire problem. I think I\'ll have to contact Mazda Canada as well.

[Mayhem]

Originally posted by sueb


I too have experienced the same problem on my 2004 Mazda 3. Avante Mazda has replaced my bearings twice - now they say that its my tire and there\'s nothing I can do about the noice except replace the tire. Its so frustrating because I don\'t believe it is a tire problem. I think I\'ll have to contact Mazda Canada as well.

I hear ya. It\'s so frustrating when a dealership doesn\'t take you seriously. After Avante replaced the bearings, did the noise dissapear and then come back?

[sueb]

Yes it did and it got louder.

[jdanielsg]

I dunt know if this is the same problem, but I have this chug chug sound you can hear something either a belt or something that spins making a chug chug or flap flap sound when you are picking up speed or slowing down up to 70km. At high speeds you cant hear anything.

The when you slow down and brake to a stop the wheels or rotors make a weird sound when its stops, like some kind of whirling. It is very weird, they changed my brake pads before, however it didnt stop the problem. my rotors have been changed and machined etc under a variety of circumstances, hubs have come and gone but sill the same problems?

i have posted before about this, and well i have brought it in a number of times too and no fix so far.

now i also notice the car idles really rough and the engine sounds harsh at idle (i opened the hood to check) and not smooth at all... it was never this harsh and didnt have that much vibration.

i am gonna bring it in sometime this week, hopefully i have a fix to the problems I will post back.

[Mayhem]

Originally posted by jdanielsg


I dunt know if this is the same problem, but I have this chug chug sound you can hear something either a belt or something that spins making a chug chug or flap flap sound when you are picking up speed or slowing down up to 70km. At high speeds you cant hear anything.

The when you slow down and brake to a stop the wheels or rotors make a weird sound when its stops, like some kind of whirling. It is very weird, they changed my brake pads before, however it didnt stop the problem. my rotors have been changed and machined etc under a variety of circumstances, hubs have come and gone but sill the same problems?

i have posted before about this, and well i have brought it in a number of times too and no fix so far.

now i also notice the car idles really rough and the engine sounds harsh at idle (i opened the hood to check) and not smooth at all... it was never this harsh and didnt have that much vibration.

i am gonna bring it in sometime this week, hopefully i have a fix to the problems I will post back.


what I\'ve been getting was more of a \"wuh wuh wuh\" sound when I got over 50 km/h. More recently it was getting higher in pitch. I got my old local mechanic (that worked on my Honda) to give St. Catharines Mazda a call. The next day (today) I had an appointment and took a tech with me on a drive. He heard the noise immediately and recognized it as bearing noise. He took it back into the shop and found that both front wheel bearings needed replacing. They only had one in stock, so they only did one, but the other one is on order and will go on next week. All done under warranty of course.

It\'s been a long process (Oakville Mazda just one week ago told me they couldn\'t find a problem and that my bearings were fine) but the noise is almost 100% gone. I can hear a very slight sound now, but that\'s because the passenger bearing is still the original. It makes me wonder what\'s wrong with the bearings in our cars. I\'ll knock on wood that these ones don\'t go again. It sure is nice not to hear that sound anymore and to finally have a mazda dealership believe me about the problem. Keep up the fight people. I ended visiting three different dealerships and a private mechanic before this was solved.

Hey jdaniel, I also was getting almost a thumping noise when turning. This was apparently because of the weight shifting on the bearing. If you have that, it\'s most definitely a bearing. Anyhoo....later people

[jdanielsg]

yeah wuh wuh sounds about right too. I am trying to get it fixed, my dealer seems to think its the pads. He says there are new ones coming out soon, maybe I\'ll send him the link to this page.

[Mayhem]

well.....both bearings have now been replaced and the car drives like it did when I bought it. Thank God this got fixed......8+ months of torture:sarc

jdaniel.....keep at it......dealerships seem really fussy.....at least they can hear the problem. I\'m wondering why so many seem to go bad....possible manufacturing defect perhaps. I just hope mine doesnt\' reoccur. We\'ll see.....anyhoo, best of luck.

[boost123]

getting my bearing hub fix today. would i need an alignment?

[gonzo25]

No alignment needed. :)

[oasis100]

I get the same noise, around 75-85 km/h.
From the front right wheel from what I can tell. It sounds like a loose bearing noise. I also notice it at low speeds sometimes also.
These Mazda 3's make too many strange noises.

[lightingwhite32008.5]

i'm getting that too just now on my 2008.5 just bought it like 7 months, wut is the major cost if u don't fix it right away, and how long does it take to install?

[Aitch]

I just had one of mine replaced at MoT under warranty. Took about 2.5hrs. It should be replaced under warranty so there isn't a major cost associated with it.

[oasis100]

What's the difference between american and japanese cars really?
Mazda quality really isn't that much better.
About a month ago, my car died on the highway out of nowhere, engine shut down at low speeds.

[lightingwhite32008.5]

well since the parts are from ford is very bad to know sooner or later have to change alot of parts hmmm that would suck!!! dearly :whoa

[Bean]

I get the same noise, around 75-85 km/h.
From the front right wheel from what I can tell. It sounds like a loose bearing noise. I also notice it at low speeds sometimes also.
These Mazda 3's make too many strange noises.


I hear a similar noise as soon as I start driving off and especially when I turn the steering wheel. I MISS my Honda.:flaming

[govtworker]

I brought the car to where I bought it, and I couldn't replicate the noise. This is due to the fact I wasn't driving in the same conditions. I usually hear it on the highway, between 70-80.
I only hear it when I accelerate the car, not when the foot is off the gas pedal.

Anyway, the service person said that it could be the tires, but it certainly doesn't sound like it. He said he rarely sees a wheel bearing problem, '2-3 a year'.

Is there a reason why dealerships are hesistant to perform any sort of warranty work?

[Bean]

I am scheduled to take the car in on Friday for a oil change at MoT and unless it rains, I plan to be there. Hopefully, they will hear the problem.

[Aitch]

I brought the car to where I bought it, and I couldn't replicate the noise. This is due to the fact I wasn't driving in the same conditions. I usually hear it on the highway, between 70-80.
I only hear it when I accelerate the car, not when the foot is off the gas pedal.

Anyway, the service person said that it could be the tires, but it certainly doesn't sound like it. He said he rarely sees a wheel bearing problem, '2-3 a year'.

Is there a reason why dealerships are hesitant to perform any sort of warranty work?

I believe that they don't make as much money out of warranty work but I could be wrong. However it still sounds like a wheel bearing to me; mine was just replaced at 60k and 1.5 years of ownership (others have had the same experience).

[Bean]

I just looked up my old Hondas service records and I had purchased the car at 150,000 km and did not have to replace bearings until 7 years later and 380,000 km. GO figure.

[mazda lover]

I just looked up my old Hondas service records and I had purchased the car at 150,000 km and did not have to replace bearings until 7 years later and 380,000 km. GO figure.


Yea but if you had a automatic you surely had tranny problems.
With bearings it has nothing to do with age but more to the miles-km on the car

[Bean]

When I sold the car in 2007, it had the original transaxle and never had a rebuild.

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

I just looked up my old Hondas service records and I had purchased the car at 150,000 km and did not have to replace bearings until 7 years later and 380,000 km. GO figure.


When I sold the car in 2007, it had the original transaxle and never had a rebuild.

When I had my Civic SiR, I needed a new clutch and tranny at 135K. I also had bad rust issues on the quarter panels and went through two throttle bodies during the life of the car due to sticking throttle issues at low rpms... My experiences with Mazda's have been much better. Does this mean I think Honda is a bad manufacturer? No, I would be a moron to think that...

So, what point are you trying to make exactly by constant and incessant complaining and subsequent comparisons to your old Honda? That your one experience makes Honda better manufacturer? If so, it is getting old quick. Almost every post you make on this forum is along the same lines...

[Bean]

I am getting rid of it soon enough, no need to worry anymore.

[Darkfrosty7]

i had the same problem but got it fixed by oakville

[silvermist99]

how much does the repair out of pocket cost?

[krimsalt]

well since the parts are from ford is very bad to know sooner or later have to change alot of parts hmmm that would suck!!! dearly :whoa

its actually the opposite, fords use mazda3 parts

[cwp_sedan]

its actually the opposite, fords use mazda3 parts

Not to be too harsh but what was the point of this post? Mazda/Ford had a collaboration. Does it matter who made the parts. You just revived a 2 year old thread for what? lol

[onipasil]

I purchased a used 2005 Mazda 3 Sport in Nov 0f 2009. They had to replace the left front bearing at that time which was under warranty. Last summer, both front bearings went and they had to be replaced again. Last week, I had to replace the left front bearing for the 3rd time in two years. I am fed up. It is completely unacceptable that I have had to spend more than $1000 replacing the same part within 13 months. I have never had to do on this on any of the other vehicles I have had in the past. I will never buy a Mazda again.

[krimsalt]

I purchased a used 2005 Mazda 3 Sport in Nov 0f 2009. They had to replace the left front bearing at that time which was under warranty. Last summer, both front bearings went and they had to be replaced again. Last week, I had to replace the left front bearing for the 3rd time in two years. I am fed up. It is completely unacceptable that I have had to spend more than $1000 replacing the same part within 13 months. I have never had to do on this on any of the other vehicles I have had in the past. I will never buy a Mazda again.

Mazda was stupid when it comes to wheelbearings on the 3. They're using ford's deisgn which is actually from volvo (funny, most car companies are so intermixed these days). they use two rows of ball-bearings rather than roller-pin-bearing, the result is less surface area to evenly spread out weight, and more flex to contribute to easily wearing out the bearings under pressure.
Even chrysler which makes cars from dollar-store crap has rollerpin bearings. Idk, mazda smoked some serious drugs when allowing that design. Other than that, these cars are mostly flawless